High School students building a new model for education by constructing energy efficient, high perfoming, sustainable, green, and affordable housing for America's urban working families.
The 2006 -2007 build will be L.E.E.D. certified. This house is being built in partnership between the Columbus Housing Partnership, the Home B.A.S.E. Foundation, the Home B.A.S.E. class of 2007 with support from the City of Columbus.
Contact us at: rbeck1@wowway.com

Weeks of July 16 -July 28, 2007

The great news is that our stairs are installed. We can't thank Contract Lumber and Framing enough http://www.contractlumber.com/They provided the stairs and Roy who guided the entire process and worked a lot harder on the day the stairs were installed than he thought he'd have to.And thank you "D" for setting things up.

Our finished stairs.

L to R: Nathan, Roy, Jessica, and Cody.

Nathan who worked for the entire day with us installing the stairs and helped with the hour long cleanup.

The other big item that has been happening for the last two weeks is that the drainage pipes from the downspouts to the street and to the rain garden have been trenched and mostly put in. This would ordinarily be an easy task but with the complex routing of the pipes to a rain garden and cistern, it has taken time.

Megan installing the sump drain to the street.

Vinnie getting ready to put the trencher to work for the last bit of trench for Megan.

Craig, who has been with us since the beginning, is loading the trencher onto the trailer at the end of an entire hot day of trenching.

Tom and Craig, lay in pipe to the rain garden. It rained "buckets" the previous day. Our basement is still high and dry though.

Photograph of the outflow pipe from our overflow cistern connected to the pipe which will take the excess water to the street.

Franklin Adhesives Caulk http://www.franklinadhesives.com/was donated and specifically used for this pre-finished fiber-cement siding and it's performance and color match was spectacular.

64 sheets of donated Georgia Pacifichttp://www.gp.com/ drywall was donated. Here 34 sheets are being boomed into the house to go into the basement before the stairs are installed. The stairs will be provided by The Contract Lumber Companyhttp://www.contractlumber.com/Anne, Megan, Sarah, and Dave M. cut the opening to the basement.

Thank you Josh Lloyd for working with Georgia Pacific to obtain Dens Armor Plus for our basement. This drywall has a fiberglass exterior instead of paper on the outside thus depriving mold of a food source.

Loading drywall into the basement.

Anne ... well... ask her next time you see her on what she is doing. The board is attached to the floor by one threaded fastener.

We had a problem in our dry cistern overflow pit for our sustainable rain garden design. We solved the problem with a poured wall and technical help from Brad Nardolson of the Righter Company http://www.rightercompany.com/. The catch basin is lined with filter fabric and both the earth and rock are brought up together in4"-6" lifts.Above, Sarah, Mr. Link, and will put in the first load of stone.

We had to fill in the catch basin to a depth of six feet, one wheelbarrow at a time. You can see how deep the basin is.That's Sarah, Phil, and Mr. Link.

Vinnie, and Mr. Link fill in and tamp the earth while Phil and Will seal the inside of the catch basin.

All of the day's work was done with pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow.

Megan, Mr. Link, Tom (behind) Scott(behind) Vinnie, and Will with the filled catch basin.The perforated pipe sticking up allows the homeowner to monitor the water in the catch basin.

Progress on our roof #1.

Progress on our roof # 2 and digging out and putting earth into the wheelbarrow for the catch basin.

Progress on our roof # 3. The other side of the roof was finished the next day.

Scott bending metal for the roof.

Week of July 2 - July 7, 2007

The soffit and facia are complete around the house. Siding on the garage is finsihed with the rest the house to be finished this coming week, weather permitting. The perimeter of the basement was framed in this week to allow for the insulation to be sprayed onto the walls.

End of the day on Saturday.Front row: L to R - Jim, Megan, VinnieBack row: L to R - Trey, Justin, Earnest

The siding is finished on the garage.

The basement walls are framed in.

Woking on Saturday.

Week of June 25 - July 1, 2007

With the help of Mike Walda who is the founder and owner of Bear Cub Industries (named after his construction company), http://www.bearclip.com/, who came to Columbus and volunteered his time, we got the garage 80% sided. This product can save approximately $1,000 per house in cement board siding costs due to the ease of installation. In the video watch how easily the panels are placed on the walls and that Josh and Mike do not have to hold onto the panels. Also the accuracy of the job is perfect.

The 1 inch insluating foam which was donated by Edwards, Mooney & Moses of Columbus, Ohio was installed enabling the house to start to be sided. Spray foam was also installed behind the tub and shower areas of our bathrooms to allow us to put in those enclosures for the rough plumbing.

Nice additions to the week was the three former students who were on site. Heather Meena '06, Colin West '01, and Eric Harter who was a student of Mr. Beck's from 1986-1980 when he taught at Gahanna High School.Dave Miller and Heather finish a porch detail.

Eric Harter after just having nailed up the last piece of siding on the north side of the garage.

This a really good view of the Bear Clips. After easily being broken off, the remaining Bear Clips provide the necessary but seldom used air space/drainage plane to prevent house failure of water behind the siding.

Mike Walda and Josh Lloyd at the end of the day with the garage 80% sided.

HIGH PERFORMANCE DETAILThis is a fuzzy picture but it had to be included. Here Mike Walda is counter flashing the Z-flashing above the garage door to make sure the struture drains the water correctly.

HIGH PERFORMANCE DETAILHere is the same type of flashing detail but along the entire perimeter of our garage. There is a rubber tape that seals a drip edge and the housewrap (provided by http://www.contractlumber.com/) then goes over the rubber tape.HIGH PERFORMANCE DETAILThis is entire flashing system at the bottom of the garage ready to be sided. The dark strip at the bottom is the cement board starter strip with the Bear Clips attached. http://www.bearclip.com/

HIGH PERFORMANCE DETAIL OThe one inch foam applied to the outside of the house will keep water from condensing on the inside of the wall cavity.Our house has been in gestation since the fall of 2005, and now we know...

IT'S A GIRL!

Enlarge the picture and see how each vertical seam was Z-flashed with plastic to help keep water out.

Colin West from the Home B.A.S.E. class of 2001 installing the one inch foam.

All phases of the project are going on. Vinnie and Victoria talk pick out and discuss the native Ohio plants which we will put into our landscape plan.

Dave Miller whose help has really kept this project going, is working to cut and install weather stripping for the garage door which by the way, came out beautifully.

Students Built This House!

About Me

Created by teachers and successful for ten years before its cancellation, Home B.A.S.E. was a unique educational initiative created at a central Ohio High School to change public education in America. By creating a cohesive student/teacher/parent learning community, the program authentically integrated the subjects of senior year (English, Government, and Technology Education) through the powerful and emotionally engaging event of building affordable housing for America's working urban families. Home B.A.S.E. did more to end poverty housing in America than any other school in the nation and possibly the world by building eleven homes in ten years. Because of the real engagement with the surrounding local community and issue-based curriculum delivery, the students who participated in Home B.A.S.E. grew intellectually and emotionally. Today, the families who now own the homes made possible by the students have a decent, affordable place to live and, along with the students, have a stake in the American Dream.